Dungeon of Niflheim

Chapter 34: Bandit culling

“That gave me goose bumps.” Frost was sitting down as he watched the events unfold. He pulled back his clothes to reveal his forearm to Maya. The moment the third goblin unveiled himself Frost grew tense, hovering over his chair in suspense and when the dagger sliced through the bandits throat like it was butter, he instinctively raised his hands high in jubilation. Even Maya was impressed with the goblin’s movements. She really admired the fountain of blood that rushed out of the victims neck. She softly laughed while covering her mouth with her hand in a ladylike manner.

“Did you tell them to act like that young master?” Maya wasn’t referring to the ambush itself but more to the actions the goblins made after the kill. When the third goblin watched the bandit plummet down to his death he refused to look back, only when the body crashed against the snow did the goblin turn his back and release a disappointed ‘hmph’ before arrogantly smirking at the body. His companions followed suit acting rather suave and cool before cleaning their weapons and disappearing.

“No... but I wish I did.” Frost had no part in their victory poses only advising them to quickly clean the blood of their weapons to prevent further rusting. The more Frost thought about the third goblin’s actions the more he admired it.

“Say isn’t it kind of confusing to keep referring to them as first goblin, second goblin etc...” Seeing each of the goblins show a different personality especially the third goblin made Frost feel that they needed to be rewarded.

“You want to name them?” Maya looked towards Frost with a blank expression. Naming monsters was a very big deal, common monsters never had names mainly due to their lacking intelligence but also because the act of giving a creature a name, especially a monster can create a bond between the named and namer binding them into a contract.

Many summoning spells or monster tamers use this principle to enhance their connection with their familiars. For Frost to name a bunch of goblins simply due to one acting cool was ludicrous. The number of monsters that he’ll summon during his lifetime could be innumerable. Establishing that many bonds would be incredibly taxing even for someone of Frost’s strength.

Maya’s cold look quickly poured a bucket of ice water over Frost’s enthusiasm. His mouth twitched and he subconsciously backed away.

.....

“Young master naming a monster is an incredibly special procedure in which you and the monster would be bonded. Some of your essence would be attached to the monster allowing them to grow stronger perhaps even evolve so simply because you find it rather confusing, or you think that a monster is interesting shouldn’t qualify. They should have to earn it.” Maya entered lecturing mode and educated her young master on the significance of naming a monster. This instantly made Frost blush in embarrassment, he jumped the gun a little.

“Ok ok I get it.” Frost held his hands up in surrender, his suggestion thoroughly quashed.

“How about this then I’ll name the first monster to reach their maximum level.” Still not willing to fully back down he came up with a compromise.

Maya was silent for a moment while she pondered Frost’s idea.

“That...seems reasonable.” She couldn’t argue, being the first monster to reach the max level and possibly evolve unlocking a new monster type for Frost to summon would be an adequate achievement worthy of reward, even if it was a G-rank monster.

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Frost was smart with his approach successfully gaining Maya’s approval, all he needed to do now was ensure that the third goblin reached level 10. Frost looked at the monster’s current details and noticed that it jumped up to level 2 after killing the bandit leaving just 8 levels to go. According to Maya the dungeon system had been set up so that when a monster levelled up it would become a little stronger. She didn’t exactly know why or by how much but simply that it happened.

Once the three goblins were out of sight, Luna and Leo didn’t wait up, they immediately gathered their stuff and moved on, ignoring their injuries. If they could be found once they could be found again.

Shortly after the first bandit was killed and Frost was relishing in the sudden influx of nearly 200DP the other bandits stalking around the first room were encountering similar situations.

“Ghaaahaa!”

“Shit! No! ahhhh!”

“I didn’t sign up for this Ahhhh!” Not all the ambushes and attacks went smoothly. Many times, the monsters would be seen, and a risky battle would ensue resulting in many screams being released throughout. So much so that even the roaring blizzard couldn’t fully drown them out.

One of the bandits encountered a horned rabbit and with his arrogance chased it, attempting to kill and claim its horn since they were an easy sell. Unfortunately, he didn’t run far before two artic foxes leaped out, one biting down on his leg whereas the other bit his shoulder. With the horned rabbit joining in he was swiftly taken down. But his screams alerted two nearby bandits resulting in the horned rabbit being killed, the foxes were too fast, so they safely fled.

As more and more bandits were taken down the more nervous the remaining ones became. Eventually only six remained and each of them had grouped together for safety. The frequented screams and sometimes images of their comrades dying quickly brought them back to reality. This wasn’t some run of the mill hunting of rich kids, this was a monster lair, danger lurked everywhere here.

With the six bandits grouping together it made ambushes impossible and using low ranked monsters pointless. It took Frost the lives of two goblins and a slime to realise he needed the big guns. Six bandits together allowed them to create a fairly solid defence enabling them to repel the likes of goblins and even artic foxes but what about a charge of winter boars or even a couple frost wolves. Frost’s annoyance quickly evaporated when he thought of this.

“Send in the wolves.” Frost muttered under his breath as he relayed his orders. He couldn’t help but smile as he thought of the carnage that the frost wolves would reap upon the bandits. His emotions had already grown rather excited due to large amount of DP that was quickly absorbed into his core. He felt his bloodlust and urge for violence grow the more he killed. The feeling was addictive, like a powerful drug. He almost felt as though he was losing his senses occasionally but every time, he did Maya would place her jade like hand on his shoulder and a cool energy would seep into his veins calming him down.

“Thanks” the red receding from his eyes, Frost thanked Maya.

“No need young master, it’s why I’m here. Just like with using DP your body needs to get used to receiving it.” Dark had warned the guardians before of this issue and taught them all how to counteract the effects.

While the two of them were having a rather exciting experience, the same couldn’t be said of the remaining bandits.

“Shit! Shit! Shit!” One of the remaining bandits repeatedly shouted as the group slowly moved forward. Each and every one of them were scared out of their minds but they knew they couldn’t retreat. It’d only been around 3 hours since they entered the dungeon if they left now due to fear Redhawk would kill them instantly, regardless of their reasons.

Though they may fear monsters they feared Red Hawk more. They had witnessed what Redhawk does to cowards and traitors. A few weeks ago, one bandit was force fed molten metal after stealing from him whereas another had his skin flayed before being fed to dogs after selling Redhawk out to the local guards-not knowing they too were on the payroll. These thoughts caused them to shake from head to toe, they dared not turn back.

“Will you shut the fuck up already otherwise I’ll kill you here and now!” The bandit that looked to be the leader of the group roared before smacking the complaining bandit hard across the face, drawing blood and knocking him flat. For the past ten minutes the bandit kept repeating “shit! shit! shit!” Over and over until he finally lost his cool.

“We’ve got a fucking job to do to, the next man who complains, panics, shouts or even thinks about retreating I’ll end right here right now, at least that way you’ll die quickly.... Well!” The bandit leader was furious, threatening with his fists and spitting as he roared. While waiting on a response he glared at each of the remaining bandits, causing them to recall back in fear.

“U...understood squad leader!” After a few seconds being filled with panic and fear the remaining four bandits replied nervously. The floored bandit didn’t dare to speak, he simply nodded his head as he sat on the ground.

“Good,” the bandit squad leader had inadvertently chosen the most efficient move. Through his act of violence and powerful threats each of the remaining bandits no longer shook with fear as they walked. They completely focused on following his orders forgetting about the danger of the monsters.

Unfortunately, when using fear and power to threaten or coerce people into following, there’s always downsides. For example, when something more powerful and frightening is involved, they’ll crumble instantly, abandoning all loyalty.

The moment the bandit squad leader had regained complete control of the situation, disaster struck.

“Awooooo!” A deep stomach-churning howl came from behind the bandit squad leader sending a powerful wave of fear throughout the group. All the squad leader’s threats became mute in front of this howl, their bodies instinctively started to shake violently, even their teeth clattered together.

The bandit squad leader nervously turned his head around in response, his motions much more jittery than before.

Slowly walking out from the snow was two frost wolves, large in stature but effectively melding into the blizzard. All but their eyes could be clearly seen from the bandits position. Those piercing red eyes caused the bandits hearts to contract and freeze as they gazed upon them.

As the two frost wolves elegantly moved closer there was silence. The bandits too afraid to move or even speak were frozen in place like deer in headlights. It wasn’t until the wolves were within in pouncing distance and they could see their bared teeth that the bandits reacted.

“Ahhhhhhhh!” Three of the bandits screamed with everything they had before turning tail and fleeing as fast as they possible could. One of them even lost control of his bladder leaving a distinct yellow trail as he ran. The bandit squad leader instantly panicked, yelling out to stop them.

“You idiots stop!” But his orders fell on deaf ears, how could they possibly listen to him when every fibre of their being was screaming ‘run!’ The bandit squad leader wasn’t shouting for them to stop just to protect himself but for a strategic benefit. If all six of them fought together and stayed in formation, they had a good chance of surviving but now.... There was no chance.

In response to the sudden screaming and fleeing prey, the frost wolves smiled happily, they loved playing chase with their victims. Their reactions was almost instant, the bandits had barely reached more than a few metres before the wolves were on them.

“Gyahhhh!” two of the fleeing bandits were caught, the wolves lunged towards their backs shoving them into the snow with their weight. The bandits only had the time and ability to turn their heads up to witness the wolves licking their lips before.... ‘crunch’ the two frost wolves bit and crushed the bandits skulls in a single bite, devouring their flesh as if it was candy. Frost received another dose of DP.

The remaining runner increased his speed to his upmost, refusing turn his head back, the dreaded final screams of his former comrades only fuelled him with more energy to flee with. Whereas the stationary three were trapped, they couldn’t run, and fighting would only delay the inevitable, they were doomed.

“Fuck!” The bandit squad leader had tears flowing from his eyes as he came to terms with his fate. He had so much to live for, his ambitions hadn’t succeeded yet and because of some stupid contract to hunt some noble kids he’s going to lose his life. He bit his lip violently, drawing blood as he stared at the frost wolf before him with rage. The wolf completely ignored him as it feasted on the dead bandit it just killed.

“Ahhhhhh!” The squad leader roared in anger from being looked down upon, drawing his two axes he charged. His eyes filled with fire and his body full of rage allowed him to counteract his fear however even if he could move as usual, even his best was no match for a frost wolf.